NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 439 
difficulty be could dispose of. He had had in his garden for a 
number of years a Quercus aquatica from seed gathered near 
Vicksburg, where it was evergreen. But with him the same tree 
was deciduous. In regard to the range, He Candolle noted on 
'UCAL. Gard— authority of Michaux that it grew in Maryland, and Mr. Can- 
H Pa-.- reports it common in Delaware. This brings the range of the 
^ "^^^^pecies up to our doors. 
It is therefore clear that Quercus heterophylla is simply an 
outpost in the camp of Quercus aquatica^ barely indeed ranking 
as a variety ; and the result of our investigation is a tribute to 
the remarkable acumen of Alphonse De Candolle, who, with so 
little material before him, was able to guide us who had it all. 
Hybrid Juglans. — Mr. Meehan, continuing his remarks on natu- 
ral hybrids, exhibited a fruit from a tree growing near Meadville, 
Pennsylvania, and handed him by Alfred Huidekoper of that 
place. The fruit was of the oval form of J. cathartica (Butternut), 
but had the comparatively smooth surface of J. nigra (Black 
walnut), and was quite destitute of viscous glands. It was be- 
lieved to be a natural hybrid betw^een these two species. 
Hybrids of Pyrus Sinensis. — Not exactly as natural hybrids, 
continued Mr. Meehan, but yet as hybrids without intention by 
man, were some pears he now exhibited, raised by Mr. Peter Kie- 
fer of this place. For near twenty-five years Mr. K. had grown 
the Pyrus Sinensis^ or Chinese sand pear, and for some years 
past had been fruiting seedlings from the original tree, and these 
have fruit uniformly the same as its parent, and as they seem to 
do in other parts of the world. Mr. Meehan exhibited a fruit and 
compared it with a figure in a recent number of the Gardener's 
Chronicle of London, then lying on the tabled the two as similar 
as if the specimen had been used as copy for the sketch. Some 
years ago a Flemish beauty pear, a well-known variety of our com- 
mon garden fruit, had fiowered in close proximity, and since then 
pears mixed in character had been raised from this supposed to 
be hybrid seeds. The specimens exhibited by Mr. Meehan were 
much larger than the sand pear, the female parent, and as large 
as the average' Flemish beauty of our markets ; the red cheeks, and 
fine lemon color, being rather more beautiful than the average of 
Flemish beauty, though this kind is popular as a particularly hand- 
some fruit. ^ 
November 9. 
Dr. LeConte, Vice-President, in the chair. 
Twenty-three members present. 
A paper entitled “ On a New Genus of Lophobranchiate Fishes,’’ 
by Edw. D. Cope, was presented for publication. 
